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Four questions every medical staff should ask before paying leaders

Medical Staff Briefing, May 1, 2010

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In the past, many physicians considered their medical staff leadership responsibilities a privilege. Therefore, they did not demand compensation. However, in recent years, it has become common practice for hospitals and medical staffs to compensate chiefs of staff and medical staff presidents, committee chairs, and department chairs for their leadership involvement.

This trend is occurring for two reasons. First, decreased reimbursement and higher overhead have strained physicians' wallets. Many are no longer willing to spend time on volunteer leadership responsibilities when they could be seeing patients and generating revenue.

The second is that the scope of medical staff leadership responsibilities has grown in recent years. "If you look at all the responsibilities The Joint Commission and other regulatory bodies place on department chairs, it is arguably a full-time job," says Michael Callahan, Esq., partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman in Chicago.

There is no magic formula to help hospitals determine which leaders to compensate and how much. One facility could compensate the medical staff president $50,000 per year but not compensate any other leaders. Another facility could compensate the medical staff president $30,000 per year and pay department and committee chairs with a $10,000-per-year stipend. Another hospital could choose to not compensate leaders at all. According to Callahan, all three compensation decisions would be acceptable as long as they are within the boundaries of regulatory issues, such as fair market value, Stark and Anti-kickback statutes.

Given the numerous variables hospitals must contend with to determine medical staff leader compensation, Mary Hoppa, MD, MBA, CMSL, senior consultant with The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc. in Marblehead, MA, recommends answering four critical questions before doling out money to medical staff leaders.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Medical Staff Briefing.

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